Electric Sheep (전자양) : Stomp (쿵쿵)

Electric Sheep is one of the most underrated names in Korean indie. The group’s first album, The Day Is Far Too Long, is among the most captivating albums I have ever heard. It’s a folk album with gorgeous lines and hazy, dreamlike arrangements. The group’s second album, Forest, is in a zany pop-folk realm but still has a lot of meat to it.

On their Facebook page, some of the terms Electric Sheep uses to describe their style is freak folk, noise pop, neo-psychedelia — terms that are all very out there but perfectly describe their singular and color-packed sound world.

They released a single back in April called “Stomp Stomp.” It’s weird, but delightfully so. Unlike their first album or some of their other tracks (see: “Loomer”) it’s not necessarily songwriting gold. But it’s fun because it’s a group of musicians enjoying themselves to the full.

“Stomp Stomp” is the musical equivalent of action painting: dozens of colors and gestures splashed onto the listener’s palette nonchalantly and spontaneously. Electric Sheep sings with an elastic voice and unkempt vibrato that alludes Korea’s trot singing style. He is flavored potently by flutes and screams. What really fills him out, however, is the lively guitar writing that contains both rock’n’roll and psychedelic elements.

From what I can hear, Electric Sheep isn’t trying to achieve anything other than having fun with this single. It’s maybe not the best glimpse into the wonders they can do as songwriters, but it is a much appreciated uninhibited burst of color in a world of sometimes too conservative indie music.